Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2009. / Full text also available online. Scroll down for electronic link.

M.Ed. (Subject Didactics) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

This two-year phenomenological study explored the lived experiences of five Black gay (Quare) males who attended three different Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in the South. This research project sought to gain an understanding of the experiences of five Quare males who attend or attended an HBCU and, contribute to the broader body of research that examines sexual minorities who intersection of identities were race, gender, and sexuality. By using a qualitative research approach to better understand human experiences, perceptions, motivations, intentions, and behaviors of Quare males, the study used Queer of Color theory with tenets from Queer theory and Black feminism to identify literature that addresses the constant shifting of gender, sexual identity, and issues of race. Data was collected through 60-minute semi-structured interviews with researcher reflections for each interview in the following areas: a biographical history, curriculum, and photo/artifact elicitation. Additionally, official school-related documents and materials pertaining to the experiences of the five Quare males, such as information from school websites, student handbooks, and general curricular maps, were used for analysis. Using intersectionality as an analytical tool, the data analyzed was open coded to arrive at deductive codes and then organized the codes to identify salient themes such as maleness, masculinity, hiding in plain sight and trauma. Results from this study suggests that messages from family, community, and K-12 academic institutions impact the participants’ lived experiences prior to attending college and those messages are reified through formal and informal curricula while attending their HBCUs. Specifically, this study drew attention to the idea that messages about maleness and masculinity have influenced the Quare males’ ideologies around race, gender, and sexuality and, as a result, they have learned to hide in plain sight and navigate heteronormative spaces to gain access and privilege while on their perspective HBCU campuses. This study significant contributes to the limited research on Quare males at HBCUs, explores how social and academic institutions such family, community/ church and K-12 schools experiences influence their experiences prior to and during their time at HBCUs and offers recommendations to HBCUs such as restructuring curricula and teacher education programs and Quaring Racial Literacy while also suggesting to multiple stakeholders (Families, Church, etc.) ways in which familial and community engagement could meet the needs of an continually marginalized and underserved population.

This thesis aims to examine the concept of the university in contemporary South Africa. The aim of this thesis evolves from the question, what is the idea of the university in contemporary South Africa? This question evolves from my current experiences as an academic in a contemporary South African university. My colleagues and I are faced with many epistemological challenges on a daily basis as we try to teach our students, by providing them with both access to higher education as well as epistemological access, as we try and transform our curricula from an Apartheid determined one, to one that is more congruent with the values of our new dispensation, and which at the same time will contribute to the coherent development of both our universities and our country. Central to these issues and practices is a particular understanding of a university in our context. This priority is very challenging in a context such as ours which has a rich history of a politically determined, highly differentiated university sector. A direct consequence of this legacy is an unclear and shared understanding of a university in our country at present. What is currently required in our university and broader context is more determined thinking about a concept of the university in this country. In order to examine the concept of a university in contemporary South Africa, I engaged in a conceptual analysis. In so doing I divided my thesis into two parts, on the basis of the two conceptual analysis techniques which I used. In Part one I constructed a Model Example, and in the second part I applied this Model Example (scope of application) to different contexts. My Model example of a concept of a university is predicated on a Theory of concepts; a Theory of institutions, a Theory of practices, a theory of Inquiry and a Theory of Higher Education. I then examine the concept of a university in South Africa, by focusing on an examination of the concept of a university in different chronological and geographical contexts. In this part of my thesis I engage in examining the scope of applicability of a particular concept of a university. I examine the concept of a university firstly at a more historical level, by going back to Cardinal Newman, Von Humboldt and Jaspers. This examination is important to the contemporary concept of the university in South Africa, as our current concept of a university still attempts to hold onto the components that characterised the concept of the university that these historical figures were instrumental in developing. I then go on to examine a concept of a university in Germany and America, as contemporary South Africa has extended its borders to become part of a more globally competitive context. In so doing the concept of the university in contemporary South Africa is also at the same time, influenced by the kinds of developments in such countries. I then go on to examine a concept of a university during Apartheid South Africa, to provide a context for current change initiatives in this sector. The last two chapters focus on the post Apartheid university context. On the basis of two seminal higher education policy documents, I extrapolate a concept of a university in the contemporary South African policy context. I then go on to examine how this concept of a university is impacting on current transformatory initiatives in contemporary universities. In attempting to examine an idea of a university in a contemporary South African context, I had to grapple with an array of issues. But the most fundamental challenge for me was trying to clarify an essentially contentious concept. What emerges continuously from an examination of a concept of a university is the tension that has existed and which continues to exist, between the social responsibilities of a public institution such as a university; and its traditionally established epistemological functions. Most conflicts and disillusionment regarding this concept and its use, is predicated on the challenge of trying to establish how a university can be both relevant and valuable to society and still maintain its epistemic authority and value. The South African context further complicates this dilemma, because central to our transformatory goals is a particular world view that we as South Africans regard as valuable. Such a world view is based on the social epistemology and ontology of Ubuntu. This world view comes up constantly in policy documents and discourses that underpin the university terrain. I set out to examine the idea of the university in contemporary South Africa within the parameters of such a context and world view. It is against such a backdrop that I construct a Model Example of a concept of a university. My model example acknowledges both the socio-political functions and identity of a university; as well as its constitutive epistemological functions and identity. Central to such an understanding is the imperative to maintain a dialogical balance between these two important functions. Although this thesis goes into deep epistemological regions, it just skims the surface of such an exciting epistemological terrain. What it does do however, is open up an alternate perspective on how to try and understand a concept of a university and extend its scope of applicability in a variety of ways.

This study used a qualitative methodology to investigate black first - year students’ perceptions of their families’ influence in their career decisions. This was motivated by the fact that, post 1994, the number of career options available to black students has increased. As more opportunities become available, it is vital that student s entering tertiary education are equipped with the necessary skills and support to make informed career decisions. There a re a number of individual and environmental influences on career decisions. This study focused specifically on family and community influences. Fifteen participants (aged 18 to 30 years) were interviewed in order to answer the research questions. There wer e nine female and six male participants. The data was analysed through thematic analysis and suggested that there is a strong link between a family’s socio - economic status and student career decisions. In addition, the availability of family socio-emotional support was also found to be a major influence in career decisions. The dissertation concludes that appropriate career education and guidance are essential for previously disadvantaged tertiary education students in order for them to maximise the opportunities available to them / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2009.

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2009.

This dissertation adopts a realist meta-perspective on a body of the scholar's own research papers written between 2005 and 2011, all either published or in press and offered for reference in the Appendices. The six papers represent the point of departure for the thesis; they are the phenomenon for further investigation into 'what must be the case' for the research events to have emerged as they did. One aspect of this study, therefore, is an auto ethnographic account of conducting research in the field of Academic Development within varied settings and over a given time frame. But alongside this personal history it narrates cycles in the Academic Development movement in South Africa over 30 years. Margaret Archer's Social Realist principle of analytical dualism (1995) is used to disaggregate the emergent properties within these histories and to enable an analysis of the underlying mechanisms that generated them. It refers to three social domains. Firstly, it describes the material structures - the institutional environments, policies, roles or professional conditions - in which the projects were conceived. Secondly, it identifies the cultural registers that the profession was drawing on - such as theories, beliefs or discourses. Thirdly, it draws attention to the agency of individuals and communities in the field as they independently activated or mediated these various conditioning structures and registers. So the study is a systematic examination of the parts and the people in research stories, of the complex interrelationship of structural and agential elements, and of how together they have generated particular forms of knowing and kinds of knowledge in Academic Development. Drawing from this 'history-within-a-history', the study makes some claims for 'what must be the case' for substantial knowledge to flourish in a newly emergent, hotly contested and relatively unstable field. It argues that Academic Development has few shared epistemological foundations and boundaries, and its roles and functions are shifting and diverse. It describes the tensions in the field between those who have been inclined to understand it as primarily concerned with redress or equity in the postapartheid state, and yet others who have prioritised Academic Development as an efficiency project within higher education. But there is a third discourse emanating from those in the profession who have consistently argued that neither of these approaches can succeed without drawing on stronger theoretical foundations. This study endorses the view that Academic Developers need to identify more coherent ontological and epistemological frames for their research work. This has important implications for building the kind of substantial knowledge base that could be more influential in addressing the troubled terrain of South African higher education. The study refers extensively to Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking-Glass (1871) and to Mervyn Peake's 1946 illustrations of these children's stories, finding in these texts powerful analogies and metaphors for principles in realist philosophy and theory, and for describing a researcher's journey towards a more assured identity in the curious field of Academic Development.

D.Ed. (Didactics) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.Ed. (Educational Psychology) / The purposes of this study were to determine the sense of obligation of a group of Northern Sotho speaking student teachers, their lecturers and some parents of the area, which factors affect their sense of obligation positively or negatively, and how pupils and students can be educated towards a mature sense of obligation. An empirical study was conducted and 1500 questionnaires were distributed among students and lecturers at Mamokgalake Chuene College of Education and also among parents in the vicinity. Only 450 questionnaires were returned. Factors such as culture, maturity, time perspective and the influence of parents and educators, which are related to a sense of obligation, were discussed.

M.A. (Applied Linguistics) / In chapter 1 it is stated that the problem of academic underachievement should be addressed in a scientific manner. It is postulated that a responsible approach would be to identify the needs of the learners in question i.e. students who follow graduate courses in Afrikaans. In the second chapter it is shown that a learner-centred approach dictates a needs analysis. Furthermore the influence of attitudes and motivation on second language study is discussed. Chapter 3 gives a short historical overview of the development of language teaching with some emphasis on the communicative approach. The empirical data is presented and discussed in chapter 4. In the last chapter conclusions are drawn and some recommendations are made. The aim of the study is to identify the needs of students of Afrikaans at Vista University. It is accepted that the identification of the needs of the learners is instrumental in the approach of the aforementioned problem. The information was gleaned by an opinion survey which was completed by all third year students of Afrikaans. The data revealed that almost all students aim to teach Afrikaans to black children and they expect the courses to equip them for that. They also want to improve their communicative ability in Afrikaans. They are well . motivated(integrated motivation) to reach their goals. The learners are positive about the courses but they feel, however, that the courses are too" technicaI" and that they often find it difficult to identify with the "view of 1ife" portrayed in the 1iterature texts.